Improvement in handles for traveling-bags



UNITED S'Lrn'iies;

vA'rnv'r GFFICE.

JOHN W. LIEB, OFNEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN HANDLES FOR TRA'IlEALlNG-BAGS, &c.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 194,555, dated August 28, 1877 application filed June 5, 187-7.

To all whom it Amay concern:

Be it known that L JoHN W. LIEB, of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New .J ersey, have invented certain new and useful vantages incident to different forms of han# dles hitherto in use, and at the same time avoid their disadvantages.

Hitherto folding handles have been generally made and attached in one or the other of two ways. In one of these plans a wire is passed through the handle from end to end, and the exposed ends of the wire hooked into 'exposed eyes on the bag-frame, while in the other` plan divided caps or sockets are passed through ears on the bag-frame and riveted to the ends of the handle. The' central wire answers a good purpose in stiffening the handle and receiving the strain 5 but the exposed ends are unsightly and objectionable, and are liable to become opened and detached, and the body of the handle, if made of leather or similar soft material, as usual, having nothing to hold its ends down, rides up on the wire and gathers and wrinkles at the middle of the same. When the caps or thimbles are used to secure the handle, the latter is permitted to stretch and to bend in such manner as to cramp the hand, and is frequently torn loose.

My invention consistsiu combining, with a handle having the central wire, caps or sockets applied insuch manner that they serve the several purposes of giving a finished end to the handle, of concealing and protecting the ends of the Wire and their connection with the frame, and of holding the ends of the handle from sliding upward on the wire.

The drawings represent my combination iu various forms, in all of which, however, the advantages above enumerated areto be found.

Figure 1 represents a longitudinal central section of a handle and its connections made on my plan. i

other suitable material,as usual, and provided with the central longitudinal wire a, the ends of which are clasped around horizontal pivots mounted in studs on base-plates B, which latter are secured rigidly to the bag-frame, as shown. O represents sockets of metal of a cylindrical form, having their lower ends closed and their upper ends slipped over and riveted fastnpon the ends of the handle, as shown.

As the drawing indicates, the sockets are extended beyond the ends of the handle and mounted upon and around the pivots in such manner as to completely surround and inclose the ends ofthe wire. This is also clearly represented in Figs. 2 and 3, the former representing a transverse section, and the latter a side view of one end of the handle shown in Fig. l.

The socket or cap represented in the abovel named figures is made complete in one ri-gid piece, and is applied before the introduction of the pivot, which is inserted from one side.

The handle represented in Fig. 4 has thev socket made and applied and the wire inserted in the same manner asin the preceding figures but the ends of the wire, instead of beingY coiled around the pivot, are secured by a transverse metal pin firmly Within the socket.

The handle represented in Fig. 5 has the end of the wire clasped around a stirrup on the bag and concealed byadivided or split socket, which is first passed through the stirrup and then closed upon and riveted fast to the endV of the handle, as shown, the cap being in this case made with an inside recess to receive the Wire, in order that it may iit down over the same snugly around the stirrup or pivot.

In Fig. 6 the socket is made and applied in the same manner as in Figs. 1, 2, and 3; but the wire, instead of being coiled around the pivot, is secured by a nut or washer seated in a recess in the lower closed end of the socket.

In Fig. 7 the construction is the same as in the preceding ligure, except that the wire is bent to pass around and bear upon the pivot.

In all cases the socket is secured rmly to the end of the handle either by means of rivets, or by crimping or creasing the edge of the socket down into the handle; and in all cases `the wire is to have a firm metallic connection with the bag,'so that it will receive a greater Af represents the handle, made of leather or portion of the Weight and strain.

I do not claim the use of the wire alone', nor do I claim, broadly, the application of a cap or socket to the end of a bag-handle; but

What I do claim is- The combination of a bag-handle, a wire passing lengthwise through the same and connected With the stirrups on the bag-frame, and metallic caps or sockets secured to the ends of the handle and pivoted on the stirrup's,

substantially as shown and described, so as to conceal the ends of the wire and answer the other purposes set forth.

JOHN W. LIEB.

Witnesses: JAMES A. BRUEN, A. C. ERANKEL. 

